


Echoes and Afterimages

by umiyuki



Category: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-19
Updated: 2012-03-19
Packaged: 2017-11-02 04:43:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/365087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umiyuki/pseuds/umiyuki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>You never stop seeing him, no matter where you look.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Echoes and Afterimages

**Author's Note:**

> Set prior to the Gokaigers' arrival on Earth.

You never stop seeing him, no matter where you look. You see him in all the spaces on the ship that he used to fill - leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, or sprawled on the couch with his long legs resting on the table, or draping his arms over the railings by the stairs. Even as you begin to find a new crew, you still see him there, in all of them.

You see him in Joe’s sullen silences, when you come up from your quarters and he’s already at the table with that look on his face that he only wears when he thinks no one sees. Joe has that same heavy atmosphere hanging around him, like he’s weighed down by things he doesn’t want to talk about, things you’re not going to ask about. You wonder whether it would have made a difference with Basco if you’d asked.

You see him in Luka’s refusal to buy herself any new clothes for days and weeks and _months_ after she first comes on board, claiming she doesn’t need any. You think he’s probably still wearing that same faded green tunic to this day, those same threadbare pants, those boots that were cracked and worn liked he’d walked the length of the galaxy and back.

You see him whenever Don brings a tray of food out of the kitchen for everyone, smiling as he declares that dinner is ready. Don’s cooking is scads healthier than Basco’s but the joy of eating it is the same, and sometimes you still expect to look up and see him there across the table from you, still expect to hear a snarky remark about the way you devour your food.

You see him whenever Ahim is bandaging up your wounds, or someone else’s. She’s gentler than he ever was, with smaller hands and more delicate fingers, but when she says something like _please don’t endanger yourself so, Marvelous-san,_ you always hear it echoed with _sheesh, Marvy-chan, try not to overdo it so much next time!_

You even see him in yourself. _Just do what you can,_ he’d told you more than once when you’d gotten carried away in a fight and gotten hurt, and now this is what you tell your own crew now, when you think they need to hear it. _You don’t have to do anything that you can’t do, just do what you can._ Even seeing him turn his back on you hadn’t taken any of the meaning away from those words. His betrayal hadn’t erased the things you’d learned from him. It almost would have been easier if it had, because then maybe you wouldn’t carry his absence like a hole in your heart, the image of him wouldn’t be burnt in the back of your eyes, and you could stop seeing him everywhere, no scars left but the one on your arm.


End file.
